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  What it means

  Literally “Wait, dear friend, until the wolves eat the mare.” If you wait for the perfect moment or for someone else to act, the opportunity will be consumed by circumstances — just as wolves will devour a mare left standing. The proverb warns against passive waiting and procrastination.

  English equivalent

  Don't wait for something that'll never happen. / Strike while the iron is hot.

  Vocabulary

  • czekać — to wait (imperfective)
  • czekaj — wait! (imperative, 2nd person singular)
  • tatka latka — rhyming vocative phrase for 'buddy, pal' (folksy and ironic)
  • aż — until
  • kobyłka — mare (diminutive of kobyła, female horse)
  • zjedzą — they will eat (3rd person plural future perfective of zjeść)

  Grammar note

  Czekaj is the imperfective imperative of czekać, giving a sense of ongoing, futile waiting. Aż introduces a subordinate clause of time + result ('until...'), here used ironically. Kobyłkę is the accusative of kobyłka (direct object of zjedzą). Zjedzą is the 3rd-person plural perfective future of zjeść — the action will be complete and total.

  Cultural context

  Tatka latka is a humorous, rhyming colloquial vocative — not a literal address — giving the proverb a playful, teasing quality. The scenario (wolves eating a mare) evokes rural life and the real dangers of inaction on a farm. Used today to mock someone who is procrastinating or waiting for an impossible condition to be met.

  Intermediate

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